‘Game of Thrones’: Sansa and Arya Are Sister Goals, But Will They Rule Westeros in Season 8?
No question, Game of Thrones fans—winter is all over Westeros and, with it, plenty of potential doom for all of our kingdoms and their dwellers. But a certain cheer-worthy scene in the Season 7 finale had us thinking White Christmas, instead of White Walkers.
This one:
Maisie Williams, Aiden Gillen, Isaac Hempstead Wright. (Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO)
Even if you don’t know the film (or where the hell I’m headed with this), Littlefinger’s execution—ordered by Lady of Winterfell, Sansa Stark, delivered by sister Arya —was a long overdue present to the legions of us who loathed his clenched-teeth way of talking, his two-tone Sports Clips hairdo and his seeming imperviousness to any retaliation. Or even a lousy hair day.
But I’m talking about this part—with all apologies to Irving Berlin. Sing it with me, people: “Sisters. Sisters. There were never such devoted sisters.” World-wizened Sansa and Arya called Littlefinger’s ruse, shipped their chaperone Brienne to King’s Landing where she could just never mind (plus, collect some intel on what Cersei and Jamie were up to in the process) and then handled their business all on their own— ith some help from Brother Bran who finally got to use his Three-Eyed-Ravenness for good.
Let’s skip ahead a little in the song:
“Two different faces [Or in Arya’s case, as many faces as she damn well pleases]
But in tight places, we think and we act as one.”
They sure do now, anyway, as House Stark has serious issues where contention for that more irrelevant-by-the-minute throne is concerned. So this next part is key.
“Many men have tried to split us up [or wipe them out altogether], but no one can,
So Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister.”
Ol’ Littlefinger learned that good, when all those backstabbing sins and duplicities were rewarded with said death decree from Sansa and a blink-and-you-missed it slice of the jugular from her such devoted sister. Gawd, so satisfying!
But there’s more to it.
Given the season finale’s tidy lesson in the power of familial bonds (well, not—or maybe especially—your icky one, Jon and Dany…but we know…you guys don’t know how icky)—the potential end of the world may likely be prevented by newly strengthened bonds that usurped old sibling rivalries.
We’re intrigued at the prospect of a reunited Jaime and Tyrion Lannister, especially when the GoT novels portend that Cersei dies “when your tears have drowned you, the Valonqar [that’s “little brother” in Valyrian] shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”
But our hope is that the Sisters Stark make an even bigger mark.
For one, “brother” Jon Snow is a) really their uncle Aegon Targaryen, not their bastard brother Stark and b) all goop-eyed and butt naked over his aunt/queen/spankin’ new lover, Daenerys—a fact that is sure to come to his and her attention in Season 8. So something is going to have to give in his allegiance to dragon or wolf. And the ladies are sure to have something to say about that.
Sansa—currently serving very ably as Lady Winterfell in Jon’s absence—has made it abundantly clear that she will not be relegated to the back of the room where governing is concerned. Arya has made it clear that she will not be relegated to the back of the room for anything, unless it’s biding her time in crossing a name off her kill list. But let’s revisit their father’s dictum, which served them well in the Season 7 finale: “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”
Can that pack possibly include Jon and Dany, given that he is the mingling of their bloodlines and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne—which is at least a partial victory for House Stark? Or will it be Lord help the incestuous auntie/sister-in-law who comes between them and the man who has fought for their fathers and family honor all his life?
And if Sansa and Arya do decide to hold strong for House Stark and not “pack” ‘er up with Jon and his girl, they also have Bran back home. Though he no longer identifies as anything or anyone other than the Raven, he’s as good a resource as we can think of in a world that may hinge on the battle savvy of all beings, the living and the dead.
And the dead may make up the most fearsome pack of all.
You have plenty of time to choose your fantasy wight-ball leagues. Game of Thrones‘ eighth and final season is expected to air on HBO in 2019.
